Craigduff 1973 (Signatory)

The Pitlochry bottler Signatory Vintage bottled this Craigduff, a 45 year old, distilled in 1973, from cask 2518, bottled at 45.4%, one of 575 bottles. Glenisla is a rare peated Speyside malt made at Glen Keith in the 1970s. It was mothballed in 1999 and revived by Pernod Ricard in 2013 after a full refit.

It was distilled from peated malt in the tall Glen Keith stills, building the rare peated Glen Keith style. It was matured in an Oloroso cask, the wood working into the light malt. Ethereal and fragile, decades draw the light malt to a honeyed, waxy delicacy of sotolon, tropical fruit and old oak. Maturation in the racked warehouses at Keith is slow and steady. A gentle maturation suits the light make, the orchard fruit growing richer with time. Years in oak round the spirit, the green apple deepening to honey and tropical fruit. The light, fruity spirit shows the cask clearly, vanilla and fruit to the fore.

At cask strength 45.4% it is full bodied. A light smoke and a fruity orchard apple, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. A soft peat and a gentle oak give it depth. The finish is rounded, fruity and lightly smoky. This is the smoky face of Glen Keith.